WASHINGTON, DC – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) made the following statement tonight on the House Floor criticizing the anti-Semitic comments made by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad at the Organization of Islamic Conference on October 16. Hoyer, Majority Whip Roy Blunt (MO) and Reps. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and Eric Cantor (R-VA) introduced a Resolution that is being debated on the House Floor tonight condemning Prime Minister Mohammad’s comments:

“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend and colleague, the gentlewoman from Nevada (Mrs. Berkley), for her leadership and work on this important resolution, and ensuring that it was ready for Floor consideration today.

“I also want to thank my friend and counterpart on the Republican side of the aisle, the Majority Whip (Mr. Blunt), for working with us closely and ensuring that this resolution – which is nothing less than a shared expression of our American values – received prompt consideration.

“Mr. Speaker, intolerance based on one’s religious beliefs, ethnicity and race is a poison that has coursed throughout the body of human history – and it has caused untold suffering, pain and strife.

“This great nation itself was settled by people who fled religious persecution. And I submit that we – the elected representatives of the strongest and freest nation on earth and the progeny of that proud legacy – have a moral responsibility to expose and combat such intolerance and prejudice wherever it rears its head.

“On Thursday, October 16th, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad made hateful and repugnant anti-Semitic remarks at the Islamic summit conference. And those remarks deserve our castigation in this resolution today.

“Among other things, the Prime Minister stated: ‘The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today, the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.’